Psalm 80 · a question people ask
Why does the psalm name Joseph, and then Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh?
The psalm doesn't say. It calls God the one "who lead Joseph like a flock" (80:1), and then asks, "Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your might! Come to save us!" (80:2). Genesis says who they are. Manasseh and Ephraim are Joseph's sons (Genesis 41:51-52), and Jacob said of them, "Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine" (Genesis 48:5). Benjamin is Joseph's brother: "The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin" (Genesis 35:24). In Numbers the three tribes camped together on the west side, "the camp of Ephraim" (Numbers 2:18), with Manasseh and Benjamin (Numbers 2:20, 2:22), and they set out one after another (Numbers 10:22-24). The psalm names them in another order, Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh (Psalm 80:2). Psalm 77, also titled for Asaph, names Joseph too: "the sons of Jacob and Joseph" (Psalm 77:15). The psalm doesn't point to Genesis or Numbers, and these notes set the verses side by side without saying why it names these three.
The verses
“For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm by Asaph. Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out. Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your might! Come to save us!”
“Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, “For”, he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.” The name of the second, he called Ephraim: “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.””
“Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine.”
“The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.”